Celery Soup with Tempered Nigella Seeds

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 small bunches or 1 large bunch celery with leaves, chopped

1/2 celery root (celeriac), chopped

1 yellow onion + 1 red onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

vegetable stock (didn't measure, sorry)

lots of cracked black pepper

sea salt, to taste

for tempering:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp nigella seeds

few leaves off celery stalks

Directions

1.  Heat the oil in a soup pot and add the chopped onions, reserving some of the red onion for the topping.  Cook on medium with a pinch of sea salt until onions have sweat, about 5 minutes.

2.  Add the chopped garlic, celery stalks and root with the leaves, reserving a few of the leaves for tempering.  Cook, stirring, for another 5 minutes.

3.  Add the stock to just cover the celery.  I like my soup thick, so this is how much stock I use.  If you like thinner soup, add more stock.  Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the celery is tender.

4.  Blend.  I suppose it is easiest to do with a hand blender, since there is less clean-up than with a normal blender, but you will get a smoother texture with a normal blender.  Just be careful not to burn yourself.

5.  Back in the pot, add lots of black pepper and taste to adjust the salt if needed.

6.  Prepare the tempering.  Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add some of the reserved celery leaves.  Fry until crispy and set aside.

In that same hot oil, add the nigella seeds and cook on high until they crackle.. then remove them from heat.

To serve, spoon some of the nigella tempering on top of your soup bowl and add some chopped red onions and crispy celery leaves.

Faumon Fumé - Carrot Lox

Here is a predicament:

You promise your pregnant bestie that if she has any unusual cravings, you will provide her with relief.

Then she tells you she hasn't really been having any cravings except for one thing.. Smoked Salmon.

This is one of the things on the list of NO's during her pregnancy because she's not immune to toxoplasmosis so can't have any raw animal products.

What do you do?

Well, I did promise her craving relief, and I do love a challenge, so I hunted down a few vegetarian versions of smoked salmon and mixed and matched until I was pleased with the result.

But it didn't matter if I was pleased.. I was only hoping it would pass her test.

So here I bring to you.. Faumon Fumé made with carrots steamed in smoky Chinese tea.

Ingredients

6 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin strips with a vegetable peeler

2 Tbsp Lapsang Souchong tea

6 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp maple syrup

3 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 Tbsp smoked paprika

1 Tbsp whole black pepper

1 Tbsp nori seaweed flakes

1/2 bouquet fresh dill

Directions

1.  Place the carrots in steamer basket and the Lapsang Souchong tea in the water to steam.  Steam for 7 minutes.  Do not discard the water.

2.  In an oven safe dish, place the steamed carrots and add the olive oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, soy sauce, paprika, black pepper, and seaweed.  Add some of the steam water (without the tea chunks) until just covered and cook at 180°C 355°F for 15 minutes.

3.  Remove and let marinate with the dill for at least 48 hours.

Your vegetarian lox are now ready to be served!

I served on toast with cream cheese, capers, and a touch of fresh dill.

So did it pass the test? 

You can tell it's not real salmon, obviously, but it replicates the smoky flavor and the texture is not too far off.  This is a great alternative if you can't have the real thing.

This passed with flying colors.  She was absolutely thrilled with the result!  Surprisingly, so was everyone else at the baby shower.. even those who wouldn't even touch smoked salmon with a 5 ft pole.

Brèdes Mafane - Electric Daisies

Every once in a while, I talk about food.

Actually, I talk about food all the time, but every once in a while, I have food conversations with people whose culinary specialties I know nothing about.

Those are the conversations I seek the most because those are the ones that turn me into a human radar for unusual vegetables.

This time, it was a Malagasy conversation about a vegetable called Brèdes Mafane.  The leaves and flowers of this plant are edible and leave a nice tingly feeling in the mouth after eating.  

Not like chile pepper spicy, but like sichuan pepper numbing, or like your mouth vibrating.

OOooOooh!  I like that!

In English, they can be called a variety of things, but my favorite is Electric Daisies.  

These also have excellent anti-inflammatory properties to boot.

Seriously, this vegetable gives EDC a whole new meaning!

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 bunch Brèdes Mafane (approximately 700g or 1.5lb)

2 Tbsp oil

1 large onion, sliced into moons

2 cloves garlic, grated

1/2 inch piece ginger, grated

2 tomatoes, diced

few pinches fleur de sel

1/4 cup water

Directions

1.  Remove the leaves and flowers from the hard stems, rip the leaves, rinse, and dry well.

2.  Heat the oil in a sautée pan and add the onions.

3.  When the onions are soft, add the garlic, ginger, and tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.

4.  Add the brèdes and a few pinches fleur de sel.  Stir to mix evenly, then add the water and lower the heat and cook until the leaves are tender.  It should take about 10 minutes.

5.  Taste and adjust the seasoning and then you are ready to serve.

I served mine with rice and some grilled fish filets.  Perfection.

The broth has such a deep flavor that it doesn't need much more doctoring.  Maybe a bit of chile if you insist.. of course.

As you eat,  let your eyes roll back and listen to the thumping music...